Having Haber Does Gives An Extra Option

15 September 2015

Coach Collins says that target man Haber does provide a different dimension if necessary.

The club’s first team coach James Collins says it was good that our target man Marcus Haber came through 90 minutes for the Development Squad yesterday. Haber opened the scoring in a 5-3 win over Watford at the Alexandra Stadium. And after returning from a limited involvement on International duty with Canada, it was imperative that the striker was able to get some minutes under his belt.

Haber missed the 3-1 home defeat by Swindon Town and although he only retuned to training on Friday last week, he was named on the substitutes’ bench against Millwall last Saturday. Due to the amount of travelling he was expected to do in such a short of time, Haber was not risked against the Lions and remained on the bench as youngsters Harry Wilson and then George Cooper were introduced.

James Collins says that having a fit and available Haber does provide us with that different dimension to our attacking play. Haber’s height and ability to hold the ball up does allow us to play through him more.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to Shrewsbury, James Collins told crewealex.net: “Having Marcus back with us and fit does give us that different option. He is the only big centre-forward we have and it allows us to go a bit longer if necessary. He is more of a target man than the other forwards we have here.

“He is also a bonus at set-pieces in both boxes. He can give us a different dimension and it is nice to have him available, either to start at Shrewsbury or to bring on.

“When you have a big one up there, you can tend to hit it longer. If you have smaller strikers then you cannot afford to do that and it forces you to play if you like.

James added: “We have the both options and it will up to the manager to decide what he wants to do. If we have to go with the smaller ones then there is no reason why they cannot combine and be a threat that way, like they have done over the last two games. We have still created chances with having Lauri (Dalla Valle) up there. “